Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Well, Shiver me Timbers!

I just don't have the time to follow hockey quite as closely as I used to, especially the statistics. I used to be able to quote the most useless stats and birthplaces of random players. (Like the current Phoenix Coyotes forward who was born in Hay River, NWT)

So, every so often I'll come across a stat line or number that completely blows my mind.

Jonathan Cheechoo - 45 goals

45!! Cheechoo?? WO RLY!?

His high back in the OHL was 45 goals. He's got a real chance for 50...did you ever picture Johnathan Cheechoo as a 50-goal scorer? I sure as hell didn't.

Other stats that blew me away, although not quite so much:

Matt Stajan - Leads the league with 8 shorthanded points.Joe Thornton - 81 assists! I know he's the big reason why Cheechoo is scoring a lot of goals, but we haven't had too many nice big totals like this in quite some time.Toronto Maple Leafs - For all of the codding they get for scheduling on Saturday Nights, they sure don't do well with a 9-12-1 record. Mondays? They are 8-1-1.Tomas Kaberle - 40 Power Play assists to lead the league.

Those Maple Leafs stats seem to imply that they do better when fewer are in the place (perhaps saying something about their fans) but this is based on the assumption that fewer people go to games on Monday than on Saturday. I would like to see their home record compared to the attendance figures.

I predicted 40 for Cheechoo this year on a line with Marleau and Sturm. Unforunately, they never skated together.

In 2003-04 was on the third line with Scott Thornton and Mike Ricci, who were both struggling to put the puck in the net. To there credit, they almost exclusively focused on getting the puck to Cheechoo, who scored from anywhere on the ice.

He scored after he was knocked down, while his stick was between his legs, while he was set up on the goal line.

Exchange Scott Thornton and Ricci with Joe Thorton and Ekman and, bam. You have 45 goals. Ekman should ring a bell, he made the all-Golbez surprise team in 2003-04.

It will be interesting to see how Hobey-favorite Carle performs in the NHL in the midst of a very tight playoff run. Hobey curse be damned.